Gearing up for a bright future in engineering
BECOMING an engineer is a good option if you are interested in Maths and Science subjects as engineers apply scientific principles to design or develop structures, equipment, or processes.
Engineering encompasses several disciplines including electrical, electronics, mechanical, and any other areas of specialisation.
At Multimedia University (MMU), the Faculty of Engineering (FOE) offers engineering programmes which equip graduates with the required technical knowledge and skills to succeed in this fast-moving field.
Telecommunications is one of the engineering specialisations which deal with information transmission from one point to another. It can be transmission of highdefinition (HD) videos from a distant planet, or massive bandwidth video-on-demand traversing across high-speed Internet.
In recent years, the emergence of mobile apps and social media have made smart phones indispensable. Year 2020 marks the beginning of the 5G era.
Full implementation of the 5G network at later stage can accommodate advanced use cases such as smart cities, smart utilities, precision agriculture, industrial automation and self-driving vehicles.
Telecommunication engineers design, develop and maintain all aspects of voice and data communications systems – from satellite, cellular, Wi-Fi and optical fibre broadband networks to data encoding, compression and encryption.
They provide people with the means of communicating with each other on the phone and using broadband data services like cloud computing and social media.
As communications are of vital importance to all communities and organisations, studying telecommunications gives one the opportunity to be part of an exciting and promising career.
Recently, Webe, the mobile service provider arm of Telekom Malaysia (TM), donated 5G equipment to FOE, MMU and the test bed was setup at the FOE building itself.
This is the first non-industry 5G equipment setup in Malaysia. Hence, students and researchers here have first-hand opportunity to test their use cases on 5G network.
Prof Dr Chuah Teong Chee, one of the leading professors at FOE, MMU whose expertise is in the field of telecommunications engineering stated, “Moving forward, emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR) and 5G technology will also play a significant role in the development of the telecommunications industry.
“In this digital era, there will be more jobs available in telecommunications than ever before.”
He believes that academicians working with the industry are exposed to real-world problems and insights, which cannot be gained through textbooks. Thus, academicians with industrial exposure can share their practical knowledge with students.
Prof Chuah has served as a technical consultant to TM for close to 10 years. Besides Prof Chuah, FOE has many other qualified teaching staff members who have graduated from top-tier universities around the world.
Ir Dr Ng Thiaw Seng, an alumnus of FOE, MMU stated, “FOE provides very good programmes with fundamental knowledge to students.
“The strong foundation enabled me to do self-learning on more advanced technology when I got into the working world.
“Training in MMU via different projects and competitions can cultivate creative and critical thinking that are very important in the competitive working environment.”
Ir Dr Ng is currently the Head of Strategic Network Evolution, Market Area South-East Asia, Oceania and India at Ericsson Malaysia.
He was among the pioneer batch of MMU graduates. He graduated with Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Electronics majoring in Telecommunications. Later, he completed his postgraduate studies in Master of Engineering (Telecommunications) and Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) from the same university.
He added that choosing engineering as a career will enhance one’s ability to think challengingly. In the course of study and work, an engineering student and an engineer will face challenging situations where creativity and logical ability are highly required.
Creative and logical thinking are not only important in career development but also to help one make good decisions in life.
Besides offering undergraduate engineering degrees in telecommunications, FOE also offers electrical engineering, electronics engineering, computer engineering and nanotechnology engineering degrees.
Teo Yar Lee, a current electrical engineering undergraduate at FOE, MMU, holds the Yayasan Telekom Malaysia (YTM) scholarship to pursue an engineering degree. She chose MMU because its programme is one of the top-ranked in the world.
“Engineering study is interesting because it’s about applying the theory and engineering principle that we learnt in class to solve real world problems.
“I would encourage school-leavers to pursue engineering as a country’s development relies on new technologies. As a student of FOE, what I cherish most is its close-knit community and engineering societies that are willing to help each other,” she shared.
Besides keeping up with excellent grades, Teo from Ipoh, Perak, is actively engaged in extra-curriculum activities at the university.
She was the President of Institution of Engineering and Technology for Multimedia University at Cyberjaya Campus last year. Currently, she serves as the chairwoman of Women In Engineering IEEE Multimedia University Affinity Group and vice president of Multimedia University Engineering
Engineering study is interesting because it’s about applying the theory and engineering principle that we learnt in class to solve real-world problems. Teo Yar Lee
Society Overseas Research Programme (Mescorp).
Teo was recently awarded “Female Student Leader of the Year” at the MMU Cyberjaya campus.
The future of an engineer is rewarding. You can explore and travel the world with a career in engineering.
It also offers you with a competitive salary that you can’t resist once you have mastered your field. Finally, you will have the opportunity to make a positive difference through the engineering profession.
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